“Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon” by Jorge Amado (Brazil)

Favourite Quote

Life was good, one had only to live it. To warm oneself in the sun, then take a cold bath; to eat guavas and mangoes, to chew peppercorn, to walk through the streets, to sing songs, to sleep with a young man. And to dream of another.

Synopsis

When Gabriela came to the Brazilian town of Ilhéus, things would never be the same again…

In 1925, the town’s cacao plantations are flourishing and progress reigns, but Nacib the Arab’s most desperate worry is that his cook has walked out of his bar. He ventures over to the market to hire a migrant worker to help him and comes across a young mulatto woman named Gabriela who is wild and has hair filthy with dust.

But something in her voice makes him take a chance, and it seems he’s not the only man who’s noticed her. Suddenly there is more to think about than everyday concerns: love affairs, murder, banquets, funerals, desire, hatred, vengeance and miracles.

Nicola’s Creative Reading Group reading list

Year 3 – “Americas (North, Central and South)” (Oct 2008 – Jun 2009)

“Larry’s Party” by Carol Shields (Canada)
“American Desert” by Percival Everett (U.S.)
“Swift as Desire” by Laura Esquivel (Mexico)
“The Weight of All Things” by Sandra Benitez (El Salvador)
“In Evil Hour” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia)
“Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon” by Jorge Amado (Brazil)
“The Time of the Hero” by Mario Vargas Llosa (Peru)
“Inés of My Soul” by Isabel Allende (Chile)
“The Invention of Morel” by Adolfo Bioy Casares (Argentina)